Man essentials (material stuff)???

[mintxx]

All of these are ladies' watches. Bow before the awesome presence of the Omega Seamaster James Bond Edition.

edit - oh wait, you mentioned the 16610 Submariner... perhaps a close second.

 

[NewMan]

Watches are gay. End of story.

 

[Fallen]

Since the Submariner is a lot older ( and still pretty much the same ) i find it to be more of a classic than some random Omega Product Placement.

While Omega is a big corporation, which owns a lot of other brands too ( Swatch i.e. ) there's much more chance for them to be only a fashion watch company because they change their portfolio way to often. The only classic Omega watch is the "moon watch" Speedmaster worn by Neil Armstrong and the other astronauts.

Rolex S.A. on the other hand is owned by private trust and shares are not traded on any stock exchange. That's why they can stay "true" to the basics.

Just my 2 cents.

Since taste is different everywhere, the discussion is pointless anyway. Some other guy may wear a 39,95 Casio G-Shock and that's cool too. And by the way a quartz movement is way more precise than any mechanical movement. But that's not your motivation or point when buying an expensive watch either.

 

[Vulpine]

If you carry a cell phone, it tells the time.

A watch is far from essential, it is redundant.

 

[Fallen]

I see your point but like i said, taste, priorities and opinions are different everywhere.

And since this thread is about "material stuff" i added my 2 cents. And not having a watch at all is cool, too.

 

[daring wraith]

Heres some things the wise 30 y/o has:

- Travel experience
- A good education
- A set of street skills
- A martial art
- A passport
- A positive attitude
- A curiosity about the world
- The ability to pickup a girl
- The ability to sell
- Money in the bank
- A story to tell

The most valuable things in life travel with you wherever you go.

You missed "the ability to play an instrument".

 

[MaddXMan]

A son to carry on your name.

***to me, fathering a son or children to carry on your line (genes) is an essential of manhood.

 

[Scaramouche]

Dear Drum&Bass,
Some thoughts on owning a home......as an ex builder and speculator I think It is a subject I know a little about...a very important aspect will always be timing....At the present time only a fool would buy real estate,the market is down but it has a long way to go,compare the dividends you would receive from a bank bill for the value of a home and the cost of rent....sure if you would only pvss the money up the wall anyway buying a home is a good way to save...when to buy having once been caught with escalating interest rates that went from 12% to 20% I can tell you it can be a very bitter experience.....As Rothschild was once reported as saying,when the streets run with blood I buy buy...well maybe but some declines can last a long while,and picking the bottom can be hard....Ideally you want to buy when things are just starting to turn....my tip look at rental vacancies,when they drop to one and a half percent,and interest rates have stabilised move and quickly,like shares the Market can jump very quickly...where to buy?well a good suburb close to the railway or fast commutor centre to your work....look for the cheapest house in a good street a run down delapidated home in a good street often will show potential to a handy man....Take care though it always pays to have a couple of old builders take a look through the professionals can often be a waste of money...a good rule if it has sound shoes and a good hat it will be a goer,I would add the need for rewiring or changing your Water Pipes is a very expensive business....so line up some wise counsel...When you buy,while urging you to capitalise as much as possible always have an escape plan....I mentioned being burned with high interest rate rises,I once got caught with a four bedroom house I was converting to a dual rental situation....finding myself facing ruin in the face I moved three boarders into the house and then moved into the garage....still needing money,the difference as Mr Micawber once pointed out can be in his case sixpence in mine a lot more but I just squeaked through by letting a Guy on the run from the Immigration officials move his caravan into the back yard and share facilities...needs must when the Devil drives...that was a close run thing.....Another caveat that many ignore is neighbors....There is such a thing as the neighbor from hell and believe me having had a Lady friend who experienced this once I can only sympathise with any one in a similar situation,so take care.

 

[Knight's Cross]

My list of MAN-ESSENTIALS:

Not in any particular order~

For me a 2200 square foot nicely decorated Man-Pad, I don't care what you say but when a future female or new set of friends stop by for the first visit, and your house/townhouse/apartment stands out as PRIME real estate via lawn, landscaping, artwork, furniture you are WAY out front in credit.

Sitting in the garage, a full sized 4x4 Pickup that's got the off road tuned suspension, with leather interior

A hunting dog that you actually hunt with. Mine's a 2 year old English Setter. He's brought me more tears and laughter training, than any woman has in the last 4 years. (The point here is have a passion, never let women become your passion).

A stylish wardrobe

Someone's already said this, but a BIG stylish bed

A 46' minimum Flat screen with Blue-Ray or HD

A couple of high powered rifle/shotgun/ pistol collection and routine trips to the gun/ skeet range for practice

A gym membership that you use at least 3+ times a week

WIFI

Cooking skills, you must have at least 10 signature dishes that you can pull off well, and know pretty much without opening a cookbook.

Knowledge of finer alcohol, not sommelier level, but know what goes with each meal/ occasion

A career that you ENJOY

A career that you make enough coin to hop a flight to Bora Bora at any moment and spend a week.

Watches (what's womens fascination with these things?) I have a Breitling chrono, as well as a Luminox Steel. Interstingly the Lumi gets more comments than the Breitling.

KC

 

[Drum&Bass]

thanks alot, Scaramouche, I have changed my views on renting and buying.

I'm gonna have to rent until I get a better education which will allow me to get a better a job, which will bring in the income I'll need to finance my house.

All those factors you mentioned are excellent, I'm dreading the costs of having to fix things but I think once plumbing, electrician and insulation are secured its just a matter of designing it the way you want, neighbors,neighborhood and distance from public transportation.

 

[Colossus]

Note the dichotomy here between qualitative essentials: skills, experiences, values, and independence--and material stuff: watches, houses, clothes, furniture etc.

I know a lot of it comes down to personal preferences, but IMO so much of it is unnecessary. What makes a guy interesting is not how much big-ball stuff he has, it's how much he KNOWS and what he has lived.

 

[Sinistar]

people, if they have space, will fill it with crap they don't need or use. Think he's making it up? I know everyone here has driven by a place where the garage door is up. How many of those places had no cars in the garage, just boxes of crap? How many had one car in a two car garage, but the other half is full of crap?

...we actually park all three of our cars in a 3-car garage! And none of those cars have a loan albeit the newest one is 8yrs old right now. Excessive car debt is a bigger waste of money than extended renting.

Watches:
I've got a fake Rollex that's been working perfectly since I bought it 3yrs ago. Women think it's cool and 99.9% of them would never be able to tell the difference. I rarely wear it because I think it's actually stupid. But it's fun to observe people's reactions.

He11, my wife owns her own airplane that she bought with her hard earned money and then bothered to take care of it for all these years - maybe she has us all beat

Packrat, impulse-buying consumers make me laugh. Sheep.
Buying crap to stuff in your apartment is just more stuff to move. Not only that, but more stuff to get beat up and/or destroyed during the move. But nobody wants to see that all their nice "stuff" only makes their lives harder.

...I know the OP's topic has been derailed into non-material things, what not to have, showing off what we have, etc. But the words Vulpine writes above, to me, are well worth it the aside. Packrat, impulse buying is actually a much bigger problem than anyone really wants to address. To me it's a cancerous byproduct of our modern society. I can count couples and single people left and right who have so many useless things filling up all this great space with junk. What does that say about us. We fill up our valuable expensive space with crap. That's insane isn't it.

Craigslist Rules! If they find a model to go public they will rock as a company (although I like it the way it is now). We have sold so much stuff on craigslist people often think I'm kidding. Over $2000 worth of items sold in the past few months. Did this "earn" us money - no friggin way. But it did recover some of the original money spent and much better than that, we no longer have to worry about this stuff and we have our space back. One of the many things I intend to teach my daughter is that our health and space is far more valuable than all this crap. And the best way to teach her this is by direct example. Getting rid of that stuff just feels good.

I'd like to suggest a Man's Essential Item:

A wishlist. For years I have kept one of these. Some of the items are short term (less than 3 months) and most of them are longer term (6months and out). I stick to it. It slows things down. I keeps me from impulse buying. I rarely if every feel buyers remorse. And if I do I return any friggin' thing I'm not happy with. And I always look for it used first. My Milwaukee Right Angle Drill has never let me down. But I didn't need to buy it new at a Home Depot to achieve that goal. I just needed to be patient and wait for the right listing or auction or sale to come along.

 

[Vulpine]

My Milwaukee Right Angle Drill has never let me down. But I didn't need to buy it new at a Home Depot to achieve that goal. I just needed to be patient and wait for the right listing or auction or sale to come along.

My Milwaukee 18v hammer drill and 18v Sawzall just keep performing! As does my Milwaukee circular saw. And, I make it a point to whip them out at any and every opportunity. Do you have any idea how awesome a sawzall is around the campsite? Of course, the batteries eventually crap out and you have to resort to the ol' bow saw & estwing, but, not before kicking a lot of ass on the wood pile (especially if you snag the two batteries out of the drill box and bring four).

Boy, I love my tools! What's the good of having them if you aren't going to use them? Compressor, impact wrench, air ratchet, angle grinder, ahh...

Oh, oh, and don't even get me started on my stainless torch kit. Talk about a dream!

 

[Heretolearn]

.
I'd like to suggest a Man's Essential Item:

A wishlist. For years I have kept one of these. Some of the items are short term (less than 3 months) and most of them are longer term (6months and out). I stick to it. It slows things down. I keeps me from impulse buying. I rarely if every feel buyers remorse. And if I do I return any friggin' thing I'm not happy with. And I always look for it used first. My Milwaukee Right Angle Drill has never let me down. But I didn't need to buy it new at a Home Depot to achieve that goal. I just needed to be patient and wait for the right listing or auction or sale to come along.

Love this!!! Great post, thanks!

 

[window]

inner peace